Alternative no chill method

[LiquidGoldBrewery]

Was reading up on no chill and came across a few things that gave me the idea to no chill straight into the fermenter.

I know that when you use a cube you squeeze the excess air out to avoid potential contamination from anything in that air space and to sterilise the full surface area of the inside of your cube with hot wort etc, but is there any other reason why the following would be a bad idea?

1. Have fridge/freezer on and have 4 x 1.25L bottles of frozen water ready to go.
   
2. Complete boil.
   
3. Whirlpool and add hop additions (nb. will cool a little whilst whirlpooling).
   
4. Transfer wort to plastic fermenter.
   
5. Place fermenter into fridge and surround with 4 x 1.25L bottles of frozen water to bring temp down as quickly as possible to yeast pitching temp.
   
6. Set temp controller to yeast pitching temp so fridge doesn’t cool too much.
   
7. Rehydrate and pitch yeast the next day / when wort cools to yeast pitching temp.

Cheers.

1. 
   

 

[Dan Pratt]

Hi,

I tried using the fridge and it didnt really help cooling it much, nor did adding a dozen 2kg ice blocks, the heat inside en enlcosed chamber was too much for my fridge anyways.

If you want cooling faster, you either need a 44gal drum of water or best is a pool to the no chill cube into.

There are plenty that use teh chilling cube to ferment in, have you thought of doing that?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Was reading up on no chill and came across a few things that gave me the idea to no chill straight into the fermenter.

I know that when you use a cube you squeeze the excess air out to avoid potential contamination from anything in that air space and to sterilise the full surface area of the inside of your cube with hot wort etc, but is there any other reason why the following would be a bad idea?

1. Have fridge/freezer on and have 4 x 1.25L bottles of frozen water ready to go.
   
2. Complete boil.
   
3. Whirlpool and add hop additions (nb. will cool a little whilst whirlpooling).
   
4. Transfer wort to plastic fermenter.
   
5. Place fermenter into fridge and surround with 4 x 1.25L bottles of frozen water to bring temp down as quickly as possible to yeast pitching temp.
   
6. Set temp controller to yeast pitching temp so fridge doesn’t cool too much.
   
7. Rehydrate and pitch yeast the next day / when wort cools to yeast pitching temp.

Cheers.

If you are going to pitch the next day there doesn't seem much point in going to the trouble with the frozen bottles, I swing between cooling with an immersion chiller and no chill. When you have late additions, it is a good idea to run some wort into a jug, put the rest of the wort into a cube let them cool. The following day boil the wort from the jug and put in the late hop additions letting them steep a little then mix the boiled wort with the cubed wort pitch your yeast.
https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/late-hopping-and-no-chilling-guide.55801/

 

[JDW81]

I agree with WEAL/Dan, 5L of frozen water in bottles isn't really going to have that much of an effect on near boiling wort.

There are a few people who go with this method, but for me it is a big risk for infection, particularly if your wort is sitting for 12 hours + at temps that are perfect for organisms that will spoil your beer.

I'd either go with the tried and true no chill method, or with rapid chilling with an immersion/counterflow chiller.

We spend a lot of time and hard earned on our brewing, I reckon it's not worth the risk of spoilage (unless you're specifically brewing wild fermented ales/going for a sour mash).

Just my thoughts, would be interested to hear from others who use the slow chill in the fermenter and if they've had any issues.

JD

 

[Coodgee]

I think if you wanted to go for the pitch-the-next-day method you'd be better off putting the lid on the boiler and leaving it in there overnight. You can be pretty sure the boiler is going to be sterilised from boiling for an hour. It's just the matter of trying to sanitise the lid. If you put on the lid immediately at flame out the steam would probably sanitise it (wouldn't hurt to spray it with starsan before hand). I think this would be the fastest way to cool it to room temperature. Putting 20L of boiling wort in the fridge will probably just cause the fridge to act like a thermos and keep the whole thing warm despite the fridge cranking non-stop. If you left it overnight in the fermenter and then put it in the fridge in the morning to finish it off to get down to 18 degrees or whatever would probably be the fastest way. But really overnight in the boiler is about the same as one run through a counter flow chiller (10 minutes max) and into the fermenter; it might not get it down to pitching temps in summer but a few hours in the fridge after probably will.

 

[dibbz]

The other compelling reason to use a cube is to limit the amount of oxygen in there with the hot wort.

http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/yeast/yeast-nutritional-needs/aeration-is-good-oxidation-is-bad

 

[LiquidGoldBrewery]

Cheers fellas - all really good points that I hadn't really thought of.

Leaving the wort in the urn overnight with the lid on is an interesting option that I'll consider.

Thanks for reminding about how you can do a small boil the next day for the late hop additions.

I know plenty of people do it, but I have never really understood how you can no chill in a cube that is roughly the volume of your wort and then ferment in it too. Wouldn't you have crazy krausen overflow even with a blow off tube rigged up?

I think using the traditional cubing method for no chilling is probably what I'll do, however I'm concerned about getting the hop addition adjustments right so I am getting the most out of my hops.... I might have to get the latest Brewsmith as Brad has done some work to help with setting hop hop utilisation profiles for both whirlpooling and no chill.

 

[LiquidGoldBrewery]

By the way, dibbz what is the photo you've used for your profile pic? It looks amazing!

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Cheers fellas - all really good points that I hadn't really thought of.

I know plenty of people do it, but I have never really understood how you can no chill in a cube that is roughly the volume of your wort and then ferment in it too. Wouldn't you have crazy krausen overflow even with a blow off tube rigged up?

I think using the traditional cubing method for no chilling is probably what I'll do, however I'm concerned about getting the hop addition adjustments right so I am getting the most out of my hops.... I might have to get the latest Brewsmith as Brad has done some work to help with setting hop hop utilisation profiles for both whirlpooling and no chill.

If I am doing the 'no chill' no need to worry about head space, a 25 litre cube has 3 litres of head space making it 28 litres, so a 23 litre batch you would have no problem with fermenting in the cube.